Shannon C.’s review of Secrets of a Summer Night (The Wallflowers, Book 1) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by Avon 26 Oct 04

This year I decided I would try and do a mini reading challenge that I like to call the “Year of the Kleypas.” The idea, of course, is to read 12 books from Lisa Kleypas’s backlist. I decided to start out with the Wallflower series and then work my way through her contemporaries. We’ll see what happens from there. As for my first entry into the Year of the Kleypas challenge, it went quite well.

The premise is quite simple, but it’s one I love. Four wallflowers need to land husbands, and so they decide to work together to see that they’re all married. We have Annabelle, the heroine of this book, who is impoverished and needs to land someone wealthy, the Bowman sisters, Lilian and Daisy, whose mother is set on them marrying peers, and Evie Jenner, an awkward, shy girl with a stammer who also needs to marry well.

The Wallflowers decide that Annabelle is the most desperate of them, and Annabelle, for her part, has a list of qualities she wants in a husband. Those qualities preclude the blunt-spoken, if wealthy, Simon Hunt, because he’s too gauche, even though every time Annabelle sees him, her heart goes pitter-pat, and he has, after all, been the first man she’s kissed. Things come to a head at a house party, when Annabelle must decide how far she’s willing to go to make sure she lands a good husband.

The best part about this book is there are four women who are friends. I absolutely love it when books actually bother showing female friendship, because, you know, it exists in real life. I really felt the Wallflowers themselves were a tight-knit group, and even though I think I would have preferred a less hasty progression of their friendship, what I got was quite satisfying. I’m not quite sure if the interactions between the girls pass the Bechtel Test (which requires that a work has at least two women in it who talk to each other about something other than men), but, for example, the rounders game was one of the best scenes of female friendship I’ve read in a while.

Then there’s Annabelle herself. She drove me absolutely insane for the first half of the book, and there was a scene that I pretty much had to read through with clenched teeth and indignant muttering to myself, because I was so irritated. I mean, her family is in dire straights financially. She really shouldn’t be insisting on marrying a titled man, and if she hadn’t removed the stick from her posterior, she probably would have actually achieved her goal a lot faster.

Simon had the patience of a saint. I don’t know if I’d have kept on pursuing Annabelle, especially after all the times she so roundly rebuffs him, but he does. I liked that Simon was an industrialist, and so there were actually scenes discussing how he’d made his money. I liked that he didn’t care much what people thought, and I found him a nice contrast to the somewhat shallow Annabelle. I loved the way he took care of her whenever she needed it, and the scene that Limecello quoted on our recent giveaway with the new boots was one of the best parts of the book for me. Once Annabelle redeems herself–which does eventually happen–I loved their romance, and the climax of the novel was heartrending.

Ms. Kleypas writes a compelling story that is not overburdened with excess characters and which is set up so that the series elements flow naturally. I’ve only ever read one book of hers, the classic Dreaming of You, but I can tell already that this Year of the Kleypas is not going to be disappointing. Indeed, if not for the heroine, this would have easily been an A book for me. But as it is, I still recommend it highly.

Grade: B+

Read other thoughts and musings on the Wallflower series by clicking on its tag.

Summary:
Four young ladies enter London society with one common goal: they must use their feminine wit and wiles to find a husband. So a daring husband-hunting scheme is born. Annabelle Peyton, determined to save her family from disaster, decides to use her beauty and wit to tempt a suitable nobleman into making an offer of marriage. But Annabelle’s most intriguing–and persistent–admirer, wealthy, powerful Simon Hunt, has made it clear that while he will introduce her to irresistible pleasure he will not offer marriage. Annabelle is determined to resist his unthinkable proposition … but it is impossible in the face of such skillful seduction. Her friends, looking to help, conspire to entice a more suitable gentleman to offer for Annabelle, for only then will she be safe from Simon–and her own longings. But on one summer night, Annabelle succumbs to Simon’s passionate embrace and tempting kisses … and she discovers that love is the most dangerous game of all.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series: